in 2017, the WNBA paid no more than 22.8% of its revenue to its players. (The total revenue figure is likely to be significantly higher than the estimate used in the calculation; the total salary figure is not.) Two years ago, I used the same approach to estimate that the WNBA players were receiving only 33% of league revenue. So it appears the gender wage gap in professional basketball is worsening.

_________________Don't take no rhythm,
Don't take no style
Gotta thirst for killin',
Grab your vial

Any demand by the players for additional revenues will be met by threats to shut the league down. No matter how justified their requests are. For the wear and tear that they are putting on their bodies (not as bad as football but there are physical consequences later in life, especially on the joints for BBall players) it doesn't seem like they are being properly compensated. But then again how much demand is there? No easy answers.

Any demand by the players for additional revenues will be met by threats to shut the league down. No matter how justified their requests are. For the wear and tear that they are putting on their bodies (not as bad as football but there are physical consequences later in life, especially on the joints for BBall players) it doesn't seem like they are being properly compensated. But then again how much demand is there? No easy answers.

A lot of people are quick to say the WNBA is NBA's charity project, but it's the same way for a lot of the players. The stars don't need to play basketball over the summer.

Any demand by the players for additional revenues will be met by threats to shut the league down. No matter how justified their requests are. For the wear and tear that they are putting on their bodies (not as bad as football but there are physical consequences later in life, especially on the joints for BBall players) it doesn't seem like they are being properly compensated. But then again how much demand is there? No easy answers.

A lot of people are quick to say the WNBA is NBA's charity project, but it's the same way for a lot of the players. The stars don't need to play basketball over the summer.

I seem to recall the Mystics' President Sheila Johnson describing her team as a "vanity project".

_________________"The more I see of the moneyed classes, the more I understand the guillotine." -- George Bernard Shaw

It's not surprising that it's getting worse - the League has added new revenue streams, and the better ESPN deal; the CBA framework is still from 2014. It's going to be an interesting CBA negotiation in two years (when the Players' Association will likely activate the opt-out clause).

I suppose we will know by November next year that the players have opted out effective after the 2019 season. A year should give them a lot of time to talk although there is the unique WNBA problem of getting everyone in the same room.

It would have been nice for the article to discuss some actual reasons for the differences. In this case, the players have nowhere else to go for these specific months unless they pull a Deanna Nolan, so the WNBA has plenty of leverage. On the other hand, the other wage costs that WNBA teams have compared to players is massive compared to the difference between players and non-players in the NBA. In order to get decent coaches, they either have to pay competitively with college or hire coaches that colleges would not touch. Also, especially for the teams that cannot share resources with NBA teams, they have to offer competitive salaries to other staff positions to find people.

These twitter posts by WNBAPA & Swin Cash within the last 5 hrs makes me concerned the lockout could be very much so in the works. I remember back in 2008 i believe there were talks of a lockout but both sides reached an agreement on time. This league has a far better chance of surviving a lockout today than they did almost a decade ago , but still kind of concerning bc the WNBA could pull a NHL move and not budge smh.

The report is really long so naturally, I didn't read it. It is mostly about men's sports where actual info is reported. The one that astounds me is netball in Australia paying so much relative to the other sports. Perhaps Luuc can shed some light on that. I recall Sancho Lyttle said she played netball before. Perhaps other players have as well.

Also - where are the overseas baskeball leagues that pay WNBA players all the money?

That was my question too but maybe they don't pay the locals much at all ...

The report addresses this at page 21:

Quote:

GLOBAL POSITIONING

It has been prominently noted in recent years that many WNBA players spend their off-season playing for second teams in foreign leagues, occasionally for enormous sums they could not possibly earn at home where there is a cap on individual pay. It happens, and more players now go abroad during this time than stay at home. But they are not all benefits of huge extra paydays. Those tend to come at a select few teams in a select few leagues - with the stress on ‘few’ in both cases.

Most prominent among those leagues (for those biggest paydays) are the top divisions in Russia and Turkey. And within the former, the particularly rich clubs currently are UMMC Ekaterinburg (winners of the last nine straight Russian Women’s Premier League titles) and Dynamo Kursk. Notwithstanding that there is no accurate wage data publicly available for these teams, let alone for the leagues, it is understood such wealth is not widespread. Where huge wages exist, they are ‘subsidised’ for commercial and PR reasons, as in Ekaterinburg by mining firm UMMC. Hence our belief is that the WNBA remains - as far as is demonstrable - the best paid women’s league as whole, as well as the best women’s basketball league by strength in depth.

Fill 20,000-seat arenas 100 times a year while drawing millions upon millions to watch you on TV all over the world, and they'll pay you like Steph Curry. It's a fucking nonsensical argument. If you're doing community theatre in Bumblefuck, Iowa you don't get paid the same as Jennifer Lawrence for her latest blockbuster movie. You might both be actresses, but you're not creating anything like the same total earnings, because vastly fewer people care. McCoughtry and Curry might both be basketball players, but until more people give a shit about women's basketball there's no sensible reason why they should earn anything remotely similar.

Fill 20,000-seat arenas 100 times a year while drawing millions upon millions to watch you on TV all over the world, and they'll pay you like Steph Curry. It's a fucking nonsensical argument. If you're doing community theatre in Bumblefuck, Iowa you don't get paid the same as Jennifer Lawrence for her latest blockbuster movie. You might both be actresses, but you're not creating anything like the same total earnings, because vastly fewer people care. McCoughtry and Curry might both be basketball players, but until more people give a shit about women's basketball there's no sensible reason why they should earn anything remotely similar.

Fill 20,000-seat arenas 100 times a year while drawing millions upon millions to watch you on TV all over the world, and they'll pay you like Steph Curry. It's a fucking nonsensical argument. If you're doing community theatre in Bumblefuck, Iowa you don't get paid the same as Jennifer Lawrence for her latest blockbuster movie. You might both be actresses, but you're not creating anything like the same total earnings, because vastly fewer people care. McCoughtry and Curry might both be basketball players, but until more people give a shit about women's basketball there's no sensible reason why they should earn anything remotely similar.

How about a similar percentage of basketball revenue?

_________________Don't take no rhythm,
Don't take no style
Gotta thirst for killin',
Grab your vial